@plot-paris said:

indeed a nice one. glad to hear that your love with SU got a second chance

LOL - it was really funny - I was absolutely into SKetchUP - ran my own blog on it - and then I got to the rendering and advanced organic curving stuff and my head exploded and I ran away!

I even flirted with other packages like 3DS and Maya - but found them totally unaccessible, so it was SketchUps simplicity that got me back in the end....

Will be interesting to see how rendering has come on.

Rendering was just where I got to when I stopped working with SketchUp the last time...But it is something I definitely hope to learn this time around.

After a bit more practise I will be looking into what rendering engines are now available for SketchUp - when I last looked into it there were only two - Podium and something beginning with 'K'.

I am sure things must have advanced since then!

Cheers for the comment.

I kinda parted ways with SketchUp a long while ago, but when I recently had to do a small model for work (I am primarily a 2D designer who works with Adobe Illustrator) I rekindled my love affair with this program and decided to learn it again - as I had gotten very rusty!

I decided to model something which interests me - and as a keen 'airsofter' I thought it would be interesting to model my trusty AK-74M. Here's a couple of shots of my progress so far - though I think it's going to take me a couple of models to get back to the level I was before...

I reckon I am probably about half way through the model, but already I have gotten a lot of pleasure from doodling with these intricate parts. I have only had to make a few compromises, having forgotten some of the tricks one must use with SketchUp when modelling complex curving and undulating surfaces.

Would be interesting to get some feedback to see if I appear to be going in teh right direction with this project!

A big hi to all other SketchUp enthusiasts out there!